Denver Catholic

6 MAY 9-15, 2015 | DENVER CATHOLIC D enver native Kevin Knight is, in his own words, "an ordinary Cath- olic layman, husband and father." He also happens to run NewAdvent. org, the colossal Catholic supersite that came in fi rst, for the second year in a row, on the 2015 listing of the Top 300 Christian Blogs for Ministry (churchrel- evance.com), and is regularly listed with the Vatican and EWTN as the most essen- tial and popular Catholic websites for English-speaking Catholics around the world. Knight's web project began in 1995 as a simple, yet laborious, venture to digi- tize the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia, and make it available to anyone online, for free. Today it is a one-stop shop for all things Catholic: not only is it home to the com- plete Catholic Encyclopedia, it also houses one of the most popular Catholic news aggregators ( boasting a 40,700- strong following on Twitter), the Summa Theologica (with extensive hyperlinks for easy reference), a Greek Septuagint/ English (Knox translation)/Latin Vul- gate Bible, a comprehensive collection of writings of the Church fathers, and a signifi cant library of Church documents, including papal encyclicals and letters. NewAdvent.org, which derives its name from the Our Lady of the New Advent icon presented to Pope John Paul II at Denver's World Youth Day in 1993, celebrates its 20th anniversary this month. In this interview with Denver Catholic, Knight—husband to Kenna and father to Daniel and Christopher—shares his insights on what led to the success and growth of NewAdvent.org, and what he's learned over the past two decades. Who is Kevin Knight and why did he launch NewAdvent.org ? I'm an ordinary Catholic layman, a husband and a father of two sons, and a lifelong member of the Archdiocese of Denver. I planned NewAdvent.org in 1994 and launched it in 1995 because it seemed like a good way to follow up on Denver's World Youth Day. How did NewAdvent.org become one of the most popular English-lan- guage Catholic websites? When NewAdvent.org started in 1995, the Web was dominated by a bunch of mediocre search engines like AltaVista and Excite. Then in 1998, Google was launched. Google was far better than any other alternative, and the Catholic Encyclopedia always appeared near the top of its rankings—so as Google grew, NewAdvent.org grew. Has NewAdvent.org made the world a better place? If so, how? It probably has. But if it has, it's only because of God's gracious patience with my own participation in his project, which is pretty much the case with the day-to-day apostolic work of each member of his family. More importantly, has NewAd- vent.org made you a better Catholic? I hope so. I get to read (and reread) some classic Catholic works, and I get to be in touch with ordinary Catholics from around the world every day. If nothing else, it has been a constant humbling reminder of something that G.K. Chesterton once said: The Church is much larger on the inside than it is on the outside. In 20 years of becoming the go-to Catholic website for resources and current news, you've seen a lot of stories, people, trends, issues, wars, popes, etc., come and go. What has stayed the same? Whether they realize it or not, humans are ravenously hungry for Jesus Christ. What has been the most memora- ble news event in the last 20 years? The surprise resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. Popes, even great popes, come and go. But this event was some- thing that historians will still be talking about centuries from now. Tell us one of your secrets for success. Learn to code, and learn your way around Unix. When you're building a website, there's no substitute for "get- ting under the hood." What is something you learned never to do again? I'll try never to link to someone, whether they're "conservative" or "lib- eral," who expresses a bitter attitude about something. Righteous anger is one thing, but the presence of bit- terness in a Christian is something else entirely—and wherever it comes from, it's not the Holy Spirit. You are in every sense of the word, a Denver Catholic, in that you have lived out your Catholic faith in the Archdiocese of Denver. In what ways has the local Church formed you to be an apostle for the universal Church? I can't put my fi nger on it, but for some reason that only God knows, the Archdiocese of Denver has long been a great place to launch apostolates that end up having a disproportionately strong impact on the universal Church. People all over the world know that about the Church here. NewAdvent.org is just one of many local recipients of this special archdiocesan charism. What's next for Kevin Knight and NewAdvent.org ? Later this year, I'm planning to launch a new project that's been in the works for several years now. It's a fi nal missing element of NewAdvent.org that should really "tie the room together" between the Bible, Summa, Church fathers, Cath- olic Encyclopedia and the Catholic news pages. Around the Archdiocese Keeping her connected - Safe at home • Immediate Help at the Touch of a Bu on. Professionally monitored 24/7. • Feel Secure and Confi dent Living Alone • Aff ordable, Simple and Convenient Colorado Owned & Operated 303-770-2227 www.goldeaglesystems.com Emergency Response System Emergency Response System Emergency Response System O v e r 5 , 0 0 0 c h i l d r e n i n C o l o r a d o n e e d a l o v i n g f a m i l y. B e c o m e a f o s t e r p a r e n t . A t � e n d o u r i n f o r � a t i o n a l m e e t i n g . For questions and RSVP, contact Cheryl Garcia at 303-742-0828 ext. 2051 or CGarcia@ccdenver.org Wednesday, May 20 7-8 p.m. Archdiocese of Denver 1300 S Steele St Denver, CO 80210 John Paul II Center - Room 111 New Advent founder just an 'ordinary Catholic' BY KARNA SWANSON 303-715-3230 karna.swanson@archden.org www.twitter.com/KarnaSwanson Interview with Kevin Knight Kevin Knight celebrates this month the 20th anniversary of New Advent, which he launched as a response to World Youth Day in 1993. DENVER CATHOLIC FILE PHOTO BY ROXANNE KING

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